Fireworks Explanations

I finally had the whole fireworks/ bonfire weekend thing sufficiently explained to me last night; I mean, not sufficiently enough for me to understand why I was awoken by blasts and flashes at 4:45 AM the other morning...but sufficiently enough for all other practical intents and purposes. :) I'd go into the explanation here for all you Americans out there, but hey, I'm lazy and that's what google is for.

I was also able to explain in kind why I find the whole thing so fascinating. You see, in the U.S., we are lectured practically from birth that if you set your own fireworks off, you are guaranteed to lose an eye...or a limb, or some appendage. I can remember frequently being shown pictures or videos on the evening news of some poor disfigured kid "whose Fourth of July antics rapidly led to a night spent in the Emergency Room."

I guess those American scare tactics worked. Cuz one of the last things I would do is set off my own fireworks in the backyard of my own house while inibriated. But British people have been doing it for years, convinced that, as M* said at the pub last night, "If you're stupid enough to injure yourself setting off fireworks, then it was only a matter of time before you were in some sort of kitchen appliance accident anyway."

So all this to say, while I'm still at heart afraid of the inevitability of losing an eye that would surely follow my own attempts to ignite my own fireworks under the influence, in the spirit of the weekend, I'm happy to watch other people do it.